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Several injured in Paris knife attack

Police have launched an investigation into a stabbing in Paris's 19th district that left at least four people in critical condition. France is on edge following a series of terrorist attacks since 2015.

French authorities arrested a man who stabbed several people outside a cinema in Paris late Sunday.

Police said seven people were among the injured, including two British tourists, and four of them were in critical condition, news agency AFP reported.

The man, who is believed to be an Afghan national, was carrying an iron bar and a knife when he began stabbing people outside a cinema on the banks of the Bassin de la Villette in the city's 19th district at around 11pm (2100 UTC).

Witnesses said some people threw petanque balls — the heavy balls used in the popular French sport boules — at the attacker, but they were unable to stop him.

No signs of terror attack

"Police didn't find any initial indication the attack was linked to terrorism," a judicial source told news agency Reuters. "But the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office is following how the investigation proceeds closely," they added.

"We are urgently investigating this incident and are in close contact with the French authorities," the British Foreign Office said in a statement.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

May 12, 2018: Paris knife attack

A man wielding a knife attacks bystanders in a central neighborhood in Paris, killing one person and wounding another four. French prosecutors open a terror probe into the attack, citing witness accounts that the assailant shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest). The militant "Islamic State" (IS) group claims responsibility for the attack, calling the knifeman one of their "soldiers."

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

March 23, 2018: Trebes hostage crisis

An attacker claiming allegiance to IS perpetrates a string of violent crimes in the southern town of Trebes during the morning hours. He kills a man while stealing a car and then fires shots at police officers before entering a Super U grocery store, where he takes hostages. Police shoot dead the attacker. There are at least two deaths and three injured.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

October 1, 2017: Marseille train station knife attack

A man fatally stabs two women in the Marseille train station. The perpetrator, Ahmed Hanachi, is shot dead by police on patrol. IS claims responsibility for the attack in a post on its news agency Amaq. In it, they call Hanachi one of the group's "soldiers." Two Interior Ministry officials resign after it is revealed that Hanachi was an undocumented immigrant who they had failed to detain.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

April 20, 2017: Champs-Elysees police shooting

A gunman open fire on police on the Champs-Elysees, Paris' most iconic boulevard. One police officer is killed and two individuals are injured before police shoot the gunman dead. A note praising IS is found next to the gunman's body. The terrorist group also claims responsibility. The attack occurs just days before the first round of the French presidential election. Security is tightened.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

February 3, 2017: Machete attempt at Louvre

Soldiers shoot and serevely injury a knife-weilding man outside the Louvre museum in Paris after he assails them. One soldier is lightly injured. The attacker had two further machetes in his backpack. A subsequent investigation reveals that the Egyptian national had traveled to France from Dubai on a valid tourist visa. A Twitter account associated with the man's name refers to IS in posts.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

July 26, 2016: murder of Normandy priest

Two teens enter a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy and slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest in front of five parishioners. Police shoot the 19-year-olds dead as they try to leave. IS takes responsibility and publishes a video of the teens pledging allegiance to the group. Many French Muslims attend the next Sunday's mass to show solidarity with Catholics and condemn the attack.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

July 14, 2016: Truck attack in Nice

On Bastille Day, France's national holiday, a truck drives through crowds in Nice that had gathered to watch the fireworks on a major beachside promenade. Before being shot dead by police, the driver kills 86 and injuries more than 400 others. IS claims responsibility, stating that the attacker had responded to IS calls to target civilians living of coalition nations fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

November 13, 2015: Bataclan and Paris attack

It is France's most deadly terror attack: IS jihadis armed with automatic weapons and explosives undertake coordinated attacks in Paris including at the Bataclan concert hall, the national stadium and various street cafes. The mass shootings and suicide bombings kill 130 people, injuring hundreds more. IS claims responsibility. Then-President Francois Hollande says it is an act of war by IS.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

August 21, 2015: Thalys train tragedy averted

A deadly attack is averted: on a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris, a man open fire with an assualt rifle that subsequently jams. Other train passengers tackle the man, preventing deadly violence. Four are injured including the attacker. The assailant had been known to French security officials for past drug-related activities and statements in defense of radical Islamist violence.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

June 26, 2015: Beheading and truck explosion near Lyon

Yassin Salhi beheads his boss, covering the head in Arabic and placing it on the gate outside the US-based industrial gas company Air Productions, located near Lyon. He also tries to blow up the factory by driving his van into the gas cylinders. The intent fails but unleashes a smaller explosion, injuring two. French authorities claim links between the man and IS. He commits suicide in prison.

IS-related terror attacks in France since 2015

January 7-9, 2015: Charlie Hebdo and Jewish supermarket attack

First, two men with automatic guns storm the offices of satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 and wounding 12 others. A different gunman kills a police officer the next day, then four more during a hostage-taking on the 9th in a kosher grocery. Police eventually shoot all three gunmen dead, but not before they claim allegiance to IS and al-Qaida. Many demonstrate solidarity with those killed.

Author: Cristina Burack

A string of knife attacks

The incident is the latest of several knife attacks France has experienced in recent months, with most cases being not terrorism-related.

On August 23, a man stabbed his mother and sister to death and seriously injured another person in a town near Paris before being shot dead by police. Authorities said the 36-year-old had serious mental health problems and had been on a terror watch list since 2016.

That attack came after an Afghan asylum-seeker was arrested in the southern town of Perigueux on August 13 after he injured four people, one seriously, with a knife in a drunken attack.

On June 17, two people were hurt in another southern town when a woman shouting "God is great" attacked them in a supermarket with a box-cutter knife.